Alles gegeven

In Alles gegeven, Jacqueline van Paaschen explores, based on numerous sources, the struggle of Marie Tak van Poortvliet for a full and equal place for women in society. The biography is a staggering account of a woman from the patrician class who, at the beginning of the twentieth century, emerged as a pioneer in collecting modern art and held innovative ideas about music, politics, and agriculture. Marie Tak van Poortvliet grew up in The Hague. During the summer months, she stayed in the seaside resort of Domburg. The unpolished life on Walcheren gave her the courage to let go of The Hague’s strict etiquette. It was here that her love awakened for toiling in the clay, the looming threat of the sea, and the dazzling light whose beauty seemed to dissolve all heaviness. She was inspired there to launch innovative initiatives. Marie Tak van Poortvliet was modern, revolutionary, homosexual, esoteric, wealthy, and erudite. In love with the artist Jacoba van Heemskerck, she immersed herself in the turbulent life surrounding the German Expressionist movement Der Sturm, led by Herwarth Walden. During the First World War, she was swept up in German cultural propaganda. At the end of her life, she bequeathed her money and estates to the Cultural Society Loverendale, the oldest biodynamic agricultural enterprise in the Netherlands. Masterpieces from her art collection—featuring works by Kandinsky, Marc, Mondrian, Léger, and others—were bequeathed to the Kunstmuseum Den Haag and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Dissertation: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/95cc2884-aa7b-4af4-823b-26662c782320